The Sentiment Machine is a self-regulating sound installation that examines the content of some of broadcast television’s staple products.
Using a computer program that cross-edits and remixes audio clips on-the-fly, a database of TV soundtracks is continuously poled to find ongoing topical continuity and produce a juxtaposed, hypertextual narrative of association. By restricting interplay to only those audio streams which share a pause, the editing rules mimic the rules of conversational flow. This “conversation” is then released through a small constellation of hanging speakers creating a gentle shower of emotional stimulants, a compressed model of the ethos of broadcast entertainment.
A 3 minute excerpt with no hand-editing:
The Marquis De Sade
Neil Postman